The magnetic stripe of a magnetic stripe bankcard may be read by a magnetic read head of a card reader, for example, of an automated teller machine (ATM) to enable the cardholder to perform an ATM transaction. As is generally known, an ATM is a type of self-service financial transaction terminal that may also be referred to, for example, as an automated banking machine or a cash machine, as well as by various trade names. The card reader captures the cardholder's account and related information recorded on the magnetic stripe, which may be sent to a host processor coupled to the ATM. The host processor may use such information to route the transaction to the cardholder's bank. An ATM keypad may let the cardholder enter a personal identification number (PIN) and information about the transaction which the cardholder wishes to perform.
In addition, magnetic stripe card readers may be deployed to control access to areas, such as ATM lobbies or vestibules, that are provided with doors secured, for example, by electric, electronic, or electromechanical locks. Such door locks may be unlocked, for example, by inserting or swiping a properly encoded magnetic stripe card at a card reader. If the proper credentials are encoded on the magnetic stripe, a signal may be sent to the door lock to unlock the door and admit the cardholder. Such deployments are referred to herein as “door poppers”.
In recent years, huge economic losses have been incurred as a result of the theft and fraudulent use by criminals of cardholders' credentials recorded on the magnetic stripe of their bankcards. One way in which such theft occurs is a criminal practice referred to as “skimming” of bankcard information when a magnetic stripe bankcard is used by a cardholder, for example, in an otherwise legitimate transaction at an ATM or for access at a door popper of an ATM vestibule or lobby.
A typical skimming operations may involve criminals placing a device, such as an overlay with a skimming read head, over a card slot of an ATM or door popper which reads the magnetic stripe as the cardholder unknowingly passes his or her bankcard through the card slot to be read by the internal read head of the ATM or door popper. The skimming read head reads the same bankcard information that is read by the ATM or door popper read head and records or sends the information to the criminals.
Skimming overlays may also include a keypad overlay that matches up with buttons on the legitimate keypad beneath the overlay and records and sends the cardholders' PINs to the criminals. Regardless of the skimming technique used, it is important to criminal skimmers to make sure that the device at which their skimming activity occurs, such as an ATM or door popper, continues to work normally so that cardholders are unaware that their bankcard information is being illegally recorded.
In the past, various anti-skimming solutions have been deployed on ATMs and door poppers across the U.S. One such solution described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,622,296 entitled “Magnetic Stripe Card Reader Assembly and Method” has been introduced to protect ATM and door popper card readers with a design that is inherently resistant to skimming. Such a card reader assembly is configured to receive a bankcard in the card opening with its long edge first and the magnetic stripe of the bankcard perpendicular to the path of the bankcard as it is received so that it is impossible for an external skimming read head to read the magnetic stripe of the bankcard.
The solution described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,622,296 has done an effective job of preventing skimming at ATMs and door poppers. The particular solution represents a positive step in eliminating door popper fraud or skimming. However, once criminals realize the difficulty of skimming at a door popper on which the solution is deployed, they may seek to disable the door popper itself so that the door to an ATM vestibule remains unlocked. Such criminals may then substitute their own card reader to read and capture cardholders' magnetic stripe card data. In addition, such criminals may mount hidden or disguised miniature cameras on the ATMs in the ATM vestibule or lobby to capture the cardholders' PIN information as the cardholders use the ATMs.
There is a present need for systems and methods for monitoring door popper card reader activity that avoid exposing a cardholder's account information to potential theft by skimmers when the cardholder uses his or her magnetic stripe card at a door popper to access a locked premises, such as a bank branch or an ATM vestibule or lobby to perform an ATM transaction.